You've Got A Friend in Me
by puppyduckster
Summary: After Hermione is petrified, Ron decides to visit her during a particularly restless night. Also posted on AO3.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. The song title belongs to Randy Williams.**

-Ron Weasley couldn't sleep. He had been tossing and turning in his bed for hours trying to achieve some form of unconscious, but he had ultimately failed each and every time. Judging from the quiet noises from his roommates, they were all asleep and it would be unwise to wake any of them up by turning on a light. Still, Ron had been having a hard time getting any sleep ever since getting the news about Hermione. Hogwarts seemed to be at an all time low with how many people were getting petrified these days. Hermione and the Ravenclaw girl were the most recent attacks and while the attack of Hermione had finally dissuaded most of the Hogwarts population from believing that Harry was the one who was behind all the attacks, Ron couldn't find it in himself to feel as happy as he should. Of course Harry hadn't done it. He never could have. Ron knew his best friend and brother in all but blood, and it shouldn't have taken this long for their classmates to realize all this too.

Sitting in bed however, Ron Weasley realized that he was never meant to have an easy sort of life. He should've realized it, he mused when he, Harry, and Hermione first stumbled across the giant three headed monstrosity that was so improperly named Fluffy. The troll and The Incident which happened at the end of the first year should've been enough to clue him in as well. Still, Ron couldn't deny that at the time he thought perhaps that was just a fluke and his second year would go by without much trouble. Of course he had been proven wrong on that count before even starting school seeing as he and Harry would now also be known as the boys who crashed a flying car into a tree apparently hungry for whipping their poor victims around as if they were a couple of Rogue Bludgers during a Quddiitch match. But Ron thought he would be able to bear it all if it meant that he had his best friends by his side. And now one of them was hurt. In fact, she was so hurt, she was practically in a comatose state and Ron wasn't sure when she would get up. He had never really realized how valuable Hermione was to their friendship group. Sure she could be bossy and a bit of a know it all at times, but she was also the smartest girl he knew and she always seemed to have a way to get them out of problems. She solved the logic puzzle at the end of last year, constantly helped them with their schoolwork and even figured out how to brew Polyjuice potion. Sure she messed up on her part, but that was only because she added the wrong kind of hair. Ron was certain that if she hadn't accidently added Millicent Bulstrode's cat hairs to the potion, it would've gone splendidly.

It wasn't as if Ron didn't appreciate Harry, because he most certainly did. Harry was a great friend and he was always good for a laugh or whenever Ron just wanted to sit and have someone to hang out with. He never once regretted becoming Harry's best friend, but he felt guilty that Hermione wasn't there to be there with them as well. Ron rubbed at his eyes and sighed. It was obvious he wasn't getting any sleep tonight and there was only one thing that could possibly relieve the feeling of anxiety and misery in his stomach. He had to go see Hermione.

It would be difficulty of course he knew. The prefects were always patrolling the corridors and that was nothing on Mr. Filch who was especially vengeful about his beloved cat Mrs. Norris had been first Petrified at the beginning of the year after Nearly Headless Nick's deathday party.

A normal boy would've been hindered after hearing all the possible things that could threaten him if he decided to go on such a venture, but Ron Weasley was no ordinary boy. It also didn't hurt that he had access to a convenient Invisibility Cloak as well. Alright, it wasn't his at all, but Ron had a feeling Harry would understand. After all, Hermione was his best friend too and although Harry sometimes got a little tired of Hermione's constant scholarly attitude, he knew he cared for her just as much as she did for him. Ron quietly slipped out of bed and tiptoed over to Harry;s slightly open trunk. For a moment he debated waking Harry up. It was likely his best friend couldn't say no to the idea of seeing Hermione, but for some reason Ron wanted to do this on his own. Quietly, Ron slowly opened the trunk all the way and after a few minutes of rummaging, he managed to find the Invisibility Cloak he was looking for. Ron then reached into his own trunk where he pulled out his copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard which he had brought with him from home. He wasn't sure why he did this exactly, as Hermione never seemed like the one to read much fiction, but he felt an urge to do so nonetheless.

Taking care to make sure he didn't accidentally wake up his classmates, ROn softly opened the door to his dormitory and exited. He made his way down the stairs and into the common room where thankfully nobody was present. It made sense as it was now nearly two in the morning and most sensible students should've been long asleep by now. Well I don't think anybody can call me sensible, Ron thought to himself as he exited the portrait hole. Luckily The Fat Lady was still sleeping and Ron didn't have to hear any judgemental remarks about him being up so early or late depending on one's point of view.

The red headed boy carefully made his way down the halls being sure to avoid any teachers or prefects he saw wandering the halls. At one point he nearly ran into a rather erm "enthusiastic" Ravenclaw couple who apparently weren't that worried about the time or the current state of the school. Rolling his eyes, Ron managed to make his way past them and finally entered the Hospital Wing. Luckily Madam Pomfrey was already asleep and Ron was able to make his way to Hermione's bedside without any trouble at all.

It was strange seeing Hermione like this. Her eyes were wide open, but she was completely still and had an odd look on her face. There was something in her hand, but in the dark it was too hard to see. Staring at Hermione, however Ron felt a sudden memory appear before his eyes.

* * *

_Ron felt as if his head had been split in half. He groaned as he finally sat up and noticed who had been shaking him all this time. Hermione was standing over him with a worried look in her eyes. She looked frightened and he saw a few tears had leaked down her cheeks. "Her-mione' he mumbled out of sorts, "What's going on?"_

_She let out a small sob of relief and helped to his feet before giving him a quick and gentle hug. "I'm so glad you're alright," she blurted out. "We've been so worried."_

_"Yeah. Where's Harry?" he asked as he searched around for the bespecalled boy who was nowhere to be found._

_"He's in trouble. That's why we need to get out of here and find Dumbledore."_

* * *

Ron was soon quickly brought back to Earth where he focused his attention on Hermione once again. He opened his mouth and took a deep breath. "Um hi. I know you probably can't hear me, but I just wanted to say that we uh miss you and um you know we wish.." Ron's voice faltered as he thought of all the things he wasn't able to say. It was as if he couldn't come up with the words to describe how much Hermione meant to him or to Harry or to their group as a whole. Instead Ron decided to do what Hermione loved best. He decided to read.

He pulled up a chair quietly to her and used the little light in the room to read from his copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard. His copy was old and falling apart, but Ron still managed to turn to the story he wanted. "There was once a kindly old wizard who used his

magic generously and wisely for the benefit of his

Neighbours," Ron began reading. For hours he sat and read Hermione the story of The Wizard and The Hopping Pot. Even though he knew she couldn;t hear him, there was still something therapeutic about being able to talk to her. Ron continued to read until he could finally feel asleep about to drift off and knew he had to leave.

He hefted a long yawn as he closed the book and very briefly touched Hermione's hand as he was pulling his chair out of the way. "I'll see you later Mione," he muttered as he made his way out of the Hospital Wing at last.

As Ron made his way back to his dorm, he found himself not regretting the little excursion he made. While, he would certainly be exhausted when it came time for classes, he was able to see Hermione which made him feel a bit better if only for a little while.

* * *

I know it's short but please tell me what you think :)


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